"The computer world is like an intellectual Wild West, in which you can shoot anyone you wish with your ideas, if you're willing to risk the consequences." from Hackers & Painters: Big Ideas from the Computer Age, by Paul Graham
We are living in the computer age, in a world increasingly designed and engineered by computer programmers and software designers, by people who call themselves hackers. Who are these people, what motivates them, and why should you care?
Consider these facts:
- Everything around us is turning into computers.
- Your typewriter is gone, replaced by a computer.
- Your phone has turned into a computer.
- So has your camera.
- Soon your TV will.
- Your car was not only designed on computers, but has more processing power in it than a room-sized mainframe did in 1970.
- Letters, encyclopedias, newspapers, and even your local store are being replaced by the Internet.
Hackers & Painters: Big Ideas from the Computer Age, by Paul Graham, explains this world and the motivations of the people who occupy it. In clear, thoughtful prose that draws on illuminating historical examples, Graham takes readers on an unflinching exploration into what he calls "an intellectual Wild West."
The ideas discussed in this book will have a powerful and lasting impact on how we think, how we work, how we develop technology, and how we live. Topics include the importance of beauty in software design, how to make wealth, heresy and free speech, the programming language renaissance, the open-source movement, digital design, internet startups, and more.
And here's a taste of what you'll find in Hackers & Painters:
"In most fields the great work is done early on. The paintings made between 1430 and 1500 are still unsurpassed. Shakespeare appeared just as professional theater was being born, and pushed the medium so far that every playwright since has had to live in his shadow. Albrecht Durer did the same thing with engraving, and Jane Austen with the novel.
Over and over we see the same pattern. A new medium appears, and people are so excited about it that they explore most of its possibilities in the first couple generations. Hacking seems to be in this phase now.
Painting was not, in Leonardo's time, as cool as his work helped make it. How cool hacking turns out to be will depend on what we can do with this new medium."
Andy Hertzfeld, co-creator of the Macintosh computer, says about Hackers & Painters:
"Paul Graham is a hacker, painter and a terrific writer. His lucid, humorous prose is brimming with contrarian insight and practical wisdom on writing great code at the intersection of art, science and commerce."Paul Graham, designer of the new Arc language, was the creator of Yahoo Store, the first web-based application. In addition to his PhD in Computer Science from Harvard, Graham also studied painting at the Rhode Island School of Design and the Accademia di Belle Arti in Florence.
We are living in the computer age, in a world increasingly designed and engineered by computer programmers and software designers, by people who call themselves hackers. Who are these people, what motivates them, and why should you care?
Consider these facts:
- Everything around us is turning into computers.
- Your typewriter is gone, replaced by a computer.
- Your phone has turned into a computer.
- So has your camera.
- Soon your TV will.
- Your car was not only designed on computers, but has more processing power in it than a room-sized mainframe did in 1970.
- Letters, encyclopedias, newspapers, and even your local store are being replaced by the Internet.
Hackers & Painters: Big Ideas from the Computer Age, by Paul Graham, explains this world and the motivations of the people who occupy it. In clear, thoughtful prose that draws on illuminating historical examples, Graham takes readers on an unflinching exploration into what he calls "an intellectual Wild West."
The ideas discussed in this book will have a powerful and lasting impact on how we think, how we work, how we develop technology, and how we live. Topics include the importance of beauty in software design, how to make wealth, heresy and free speech, the programming language renaissance, the open-source movement, digital design, internet startups, and more.
And here's a taste of what you'll find in Hackers & Painters:
"In most fields the great work is done early on. The paintings made between 1430 and 1500 are still unsurpassed. Shakespeare appeared just as professional theater was being born, and pushed the medium so far that every playwright since has had to live in his shadow. Albrecht Durer did the same thing with engraving, and Jane Austen with the novel.
Over and over we see the same pattern. A new medium appears, and people are so excited about it that they explore most of its possibilities in the first couple generations. Hacking seems to be in this phase now.
Painting was not, in Leonardo's time, as cool as his work helped make it. How cool hacking turns out to be will depend on what we can do with this new medium."
Andy Hertzfeld, co-creator of the Macintosh computer, says about Hackers & Painters:
"Paul Graham is a hacker, painter and a terrific writer. His lucid, humorous prose is brimming with contrarian insight and practical wisdom on writing great code at the intersection of art, science and commerce."Paul Graham, designer of the new Arc language, was the creator of Yahoo Store, the first web-based application. In addition to his PhD in Computer Science from Harvard, Graham also studied painting at the Rhode Island School of Design and the Accademia di Belle Arti in Florence.
"Längst sind die Online-Essays von Paul Graham kein Geheimtipp mehr und finden - zumindest in der IT-Szene - Beachtung. Grund genug für den O'Reilly-Verlag, 15 seiner besten Abhandlungen, von denen zehn unter www.paulgraham.com sogar frei verfügbar sind, in Buchform zu veröffentlichen. Graham versteht sich als Hacker im positiven Sinne, nämlich als enthusiastischer Programmierer und Computerfan. Daher beschäftigt er sich unter der Überschrift 'Why Nerds Are Unpopular' gern mit den Sorgen und Nöten dieser Spezies, deren Mitglieder häufig als überdurchschnittlich intelligent, aber kontaktarm verschrien sind. Als erfolgreicher Geschäftsmann drängt es ihn auszubreiten, wie er es dazu gebracht hat, und er möchte andere ermutigen, es ihm gleich zu tun. So sinniert er über Anwendungen für das Internet oder vernünftige Strategien für Start-up-Unternehmen. Seine Gedanken über die Anhäufung von Reichtum und Wohlstand und deren Verteilung verraten die amerikanische Herkunft, teilweise schlägt er harte patriotische Töne an. Seine Beobachtungen der computerisierten Gesellschaft ergänzt er durch technische Kapitel, in denen es vorwiegend um die Evolution und die Bedeutung von Programmiersprachen geht. Besonders hervorzuheben ist `The Hundred-Year Language', ein Vortrag, den er auf der PyCon 2003 hielt und in dem er seine Vision von der Zukunft der Programmierung entwickelt. Aus seiner persönlichen Vorliebe für LISP macht er keinen Hehl und wiederholt gebetsmühlenartig, dass diese wenig populäre Programmiersprache für seinen beruflichen Erfolg mitverantwortlich gewesen sei. Der begabte Essayist analysiert zielstrebig und präzise in lebendiger und humorvoller Prosa, die es auch dem technisch weniger versierten Leser leicht macht, an seinen Gedanken teilzuhaben. Ein umfangreiches Glossar unterstützt dabei." - c't, 07/2004, Maik Schmidt